Poll: Chris Christie unfavorability doubles

The toll “Bridgegate” might be having on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie emerges in a new poll that shows Americans’ unfavorable opinion of the Republican governor has doubled.

The share of Americans who view Christie unfavorably has jumped from 17 percent in January 2013 to 34 percent, according to a poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center and USA Today. However, his favorability ratings dropped only slightly during the same time period from 40 to 38 percent.

Forty-five percent of Americans said they have heard a lot of the George Washington Bridge scandal plaguing the governor and 28 percent said they heard a little. Of those, 58 percent said they do not believe Christie’s denials that he had any knowledge of his aides’ involvement prior to incriminating emails becoming public linking them to the closures.

Across party lines, 67 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independents who at least heard a little about the controversy do not believe Christie. Christie, who is widely considered a potential 2016 candidate, sees a split in confidence among his fellow Republicans, as 48 percent who heard of the lane closures believe him, but 42 percent do not.

Unfavorable views of Christie have also increased across the parties over the past year.

Christie’s favorability among Democrats is now 32 percent to 43 percent, compared to 37 percent to 18 percent in 2013. Similarly independents’ favorability rating of Christie is 37 percent to 33 percent, compared to 37 to 15 in 2013.

However, while 49 percent of Republicans still view Christie favorably from January 2013 to Monday’s poll. The number of Republicans who view Christie unfavorably jumped from 20 percent in 2013 to 27 percent.

The poll was conducted Jan. 15-19, 2014, and surveyed 1,504 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.